WEBVTT - Claire Scanlon 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:01.960 Have you ever felt depressed about work only to have 0:00:02.000 --> 0:00:03.800 your dad be like, why you're so down? So you 0:00:03.800 --> 0:00:05.480 told him you hate your job and he said, well, 0:00:05.519 --> 0:00:07.760 you better talk yourself out of it. And then you thought, hmm, 0:00:07.880 --> 0:00:10.080 I love to talk. I could host a podcast. And 0:00:10.119 --> 0:00:12.039 then you went to Speaker from my Heart and started 0:00:12.039 --> 0:00:14.240 a podcast and got good at it, then monetized it, 0:00:14.240 --> 0:00:16.320 then quit your boring job and told your dad thanks 0:00:16.320 --> 0:00:17.840 for the advice. And he was like, well, that's not 0:00:17.880 --> 0:00:20.159 what I meant, and I don't understand what a podcast is. 0:00:20.200 --> 0:00:22.680 But you seem happy, so that's great, kiddo. Do you 0:00:22.680 --> 0:00:26.320 ever do that? Well, you could at speaker dot com. 0:00:26.360 --> 0:00:29.360 That's spr e A k E. R ask your dad. 0:00:29.720 --> 0:00:33.680 You actually don't. Hi. This is Ali went Worth, host 0:00:33.760 --> 0:00:36.360 of Go Ask Alli. My listeners want more, so we 0:00:36.440 --> 0:00:40.600 are digging in comedian Amy Schumer. As far as cancel 0:00:40.720 --> 0:00:42.640 culture goes, I think that the people who are the 0:00:42.680 --> 0:00:45.720 most afraid and complaining about cancel culture are the ones 0:00:45.720 --> 0:00:47.720 who are in danger of being canceled, and they need 0:00:47.800 --> 0:00:49.919 to take a look at themselves. I agree with you. 0:00:49.920 --> 0:00:51.839 You know, I'm not worried about it because I know 0:00:51.920 --> 0:00:54.920 my intentions and I know that I'm like open to evolving. 0:00:55.240 --> 0:00:57.600 Listen to Go ask Alli every Thursday on the I 0:00:57.720 --> 0:01:00.680 Heart Radio app, Apple podcast or or wherever you get 0:01:00.720 --> 0:01:05.280 your podcasts. Check out the new podcast I Am Kobe. 0:01:05.560 --> 0:01:07.960 Do you want to understand how Kobe Bryant achieved his 0:01:08.080 --> 0:01:11.840 unequal determination? How did he come to his incredible passion 0:01:11.880 --> 0:01:16.040 to win? In I Am Kobe, we reveal intimate, never 0:01:16.080 --> 0:01:18.759 before heard tapes of Kobe when he was a teenager, 0:01:19.040 --> 0:01:21.440 just as he was starting to glimpse his own greatness. 0:01:21.840 --> 0:01:24.919 It's about the making of an icon. We weave together 0:01:24.959 --> 0:01:28.959 these tapes with Kobe's high school coaches, his friends, and 0:01:29.000 --> 0:01:31.840 the figures who knew him in his youth. All episodes 0:01:31.880 --> 0:01:34.080 are out now so you can binge the whole thing. 0:01:34.560 --> 0:01:37.320 Listen to I Am Kobe on the I Heart Radio app, 0:01:37.440 --> 0:01:47.920 Apple Podcasts and wherever you get your podcasts. We can 0:01:47.920 --> 0:01:50.040 say whatever you want. Your name and what you are 0:01:50.040 --> 0:01:52.800 on the Office. My name is Claire Scanlon and I 0:01:52.840 --> 0:01:55.760 was an editor on the Office from season five for 0:01:55.960 --> 0:02:03.880 five years through the finale was so long? Okay, okay. 0:02:04.760 --> 0:02:06.680 My name is Claire Scanlon and I was an editor 0:02:06.800 --> 0:02:19.440 on the Office. Hello everyone, that just made me laugh. 0:02:20.320 --> 0:02:25.320 Welcome back to the Office deep Dive, where we dive 0:02:25.400 --> 0:02:29.919 deep into the office. As the title indicates, I am 0:02:29.960 --> 0:02:36.040 your host, Brian Baumgartner. Today I have the absolute pleasure 0:02:36.160 --> 0:02:40.560 and privilege of bringing you my conversation with the one 0:02:40.600 --> 0:02:46.200 and only Claire Scanlon. Oh she's just great. Just wait, um. 0:02:46.360 --> 0:02:50.440 Claire was an editor on our show, a great one 0:02:50.520 --> 0:02:54.560 in fact, she won an Emmy for editing the final episode. 0:02:55.400 --> 0:02:58.360 But one thing that was so special about the office 0:02:58.400 --> 0:03:00.640 And I know I've talked about this, but but you 0:03:00.720 --> 0:03:03.520 really you need to understand just how rare it is. 0:03:04.120 --> 0:03:08.080 There was a synergy, a real synergy between all of 0:03:08.120 --> 0:03:11.600 the members of the cast and of the crew. Everyone 0:03:12.200 --> 0:03:17.320 talked to everyone, Everyone had input and value. Everyone could 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:21.240 try on a new hat if they wanted. Even I 0:03:21.800 --> 0:03:25.920 a lowly actor, I could walk right up to the 0:03:25.919 --> 0:03:28.440 writer's room and tell them what I thought about something, 0:03:28.680 --> 0:03:32.480 or the editors area the editing bay as we call it. 0:03:32.560 --> 0:03:35.800 And I have real conversations with Claire or with our 0:03:35.880 --> 0:03:40.480 other amazing editor, Dave Rogers about the show. So ideas 0:03:40.760 --> 0:03:43.960 came from all different people, all of the time, right 0:03:44.040 --> 0:03:46.600 up until the very end. So the fact that Claire 0:03:46.640 --> 0:03:49.760 and I even have a relationship her as an editor 0:03:49.800 --> 0:03:53.000 and me as an actor. That speaks to the extra 0:03:53.320 --> 0:03:57.840 special specialness of our set. And speaking of people taking 0:03:57.840 --> 0:04:02.160 on different roles, well, Claire are also directed a couple 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:07.080 of episodes of The Office, Yes, her first ever directing job, 0:04:07.520 --> 0:04:10.600 which of course has launched her into a full blown 0:04:10.840 --> 0:04:14.960 directing career. Yeah, Claire is kind of a big deal. 0:04:15.240 --> 0:04:17.919 If you watch television, there is no doubt you have 0:04:18.040 --> 0:04:22.960 seen something she has done, maybe The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt 0:04:23.200 --> 0:04:26.920 or Brooklyn nine nine, or The Mindy Project or her 0:04:27.040 --> 0:04:30.279 recent film Set It Up. Oh and did I mention 0:04:30.480 --> 0:04:33.120 that she won an Emmy for editing the finale of 0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:37.240 the Office. She's just too good. She's too good at 0:04:37.520 --> 0:04:41.560 at everything. Anyway, you will understand how stoked I was 0:04:41.720 --> 0:04:44.120 to get to see her and to talk to her. 0:04:44.600 --> 0:04:48.800 It was truly my pleasure. Here is my friend, the 0:04:48.920 --> 0:05:00.640 incredibly multi talented and impossibly brilliant Claire Scanlon. Bubb Lunch, squeak, 0:05:01.960 --> 0:05:08.279 I love it, bubble and squeak, bubble and squeaker cookie, 0:05:08.480 --> 0:05:27.279 every moment left over from the nat How are you good? 0:05:28.960 --> 0:05:36.000 Are golfing? What's going on? Why is it always about golfing, 0:05:36.680 --> 0:05:42.760 working card outside. Really that red you are just very tan, 0:05:43.279 --> 0:05:48.679 That's what I was, right, Well, um, oh my gosh, 0:05:48.800 --> 0:05:52.760 how are you good? Goods really good? I was like teasing. 0:05:52.800 --> 0:05:55.599 I was like this because in the emails like conveniently located, 0:05:56.040 --> 0:06:01.920 I'm like gregg them all. Yeah. I brought a ton 0:06:01.960 --> 0:06:04.920 of pictures too, and yeah, yeah, it was really actually 0:06:04.920 --> 0:06:07.200 fun going to I haven't and weirdly, I have a 0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:11.320 lot of pictures of you really, just like I was, 0:06:12.000 --> 0:06:14.120 it's time to tell you the truth that I was 0:06:14.640 --> 0:06:17.039 totally obsessed with you and stopped you. You just didn't 0:06:17.040 --> 0:06:23.440 know what I did it very surreptitiously. Really, Yeah, see 0:06:23.440 --> 0:06:25.760 your pictures. I know, I'm pulling them up right now. 0:06:25.880 --> 0:06:29.839 The office. Um, there's one just that's like a rap 0:06:30.279 --> 0:06:34.320 some and you in the middle. This is like one 0:06:34.360 --> 0:06:39.320 of our story boards, you know, just like classic office storyboard. 0:06:40.240 --> 0:06:44.000 That's the very last mix session, that's for the finale. Yeah, 0:06:44.360 --> 0:06:48.279 that's Matt So in case you could recognize him, he 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:55.320 was Colonel Sanders, which having had just worked on I'm 0:06:55.320 --> 0:06:57.800 trying to be trying to be very diplomatic about this, 0:06:57.839 --> 0:07:00.800 but having just worked on another handheld show, it makes 0:07:00.800 --> 0:07:05.600 you really appreciate Matt and Sarah's work because it's such 0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:09.200 a skill, it's such an art, and so few people 0:07:09.240 --> 0:07:12.320 can do it well. So few. Well, it's crazy because 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:18.240 they came from reality, but they knew how to construct 0:07:18.280 --> 0:07:21.320 the story. They knew not to go to you guys 0:07:21.400 --> 0:07:25.880 until you started speaking, which is such a palletic, artful 0:07:26.040 --> 0:07:29.160 thing that they never got credit for her because no 0:07:29.240 --> 0:07:32.400 one appreciates the storytelling they were doing and understanding the 0:07:32.480 --> 0:07:35.160 level of difficulty except other camera operators that would come 0:07:35.200 --> 0:07:37.880 and work on the show and fail. The editors really 0:07:37.920 --> 0:07:40.679 knew it, and the other people who tried and couldn't 0:07:40.720 --> 0:07:43.240 do it would like cut to you and be like, no, 0:07:43.360 --> 0:07:46.080 he Kevin hasn't spoken yet. You can't cut to Kevin 0:07:46.080 --> 0:07:48.880 because how do these the documentary filmmaker know that Kevin's 0:07:48.880 --> 0:07:52.240 going to speak? Right? I talked with Matt about this also, 0:07:52.280 --> 0:07:54.960 and I'd kind of forgotten about this. Really. The only 0:07:54.960 --> 0:07:58.440 way they cheated was they would have us do handles occasionally, right, 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:02.560 so like Michael, yes, just to give them a reason 0:08:02.560 --> 0:08:05.520 to get over there, always looking for the reason right right, 0:08:05.920 --> 0:08:08.360 that he knew to do. That was awesome. Do you 0:08:08.400 --> 0:08:15.000 feel like was editing on the Office more or less 0:08:15.320 --> 0:08:21.120 difficult because of the way that it was. Because it 0:08:21.160 --> 0:08:25.560 was incredibly difficult. It was not easier than a more 0:08:25.560 --> 0:08:30.640 studio style Hollywood typical Hollywood sitcom or single camp show, 0:08:31.120 --> 0:08:35.280 much much more difficult. But that said, you had so 0:08:35.360 --> 0:08:40.800 much creativity and so much leeway. I think because Greg 0:08:40.960 --> 0:08:46.120 and Paul and Jen really respected the editor, the act 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:50.760 of editing, the storytelling of editing, they gave so much leeway. 0:08:50.880 --> 0:08:54.400 So and they and especially Greg was not reverential with 0:08:54.520 --> 0:08:58.000 his scripts and himself as well, like when he would 0:08:58.040 --> 0:09:00.560 come into post like take that talking from act one 0:09:00.600 --> 0:09:02.920 and put it in three. And I remember doing casual 0:09:03.080 --> 0:09:06.720 Fridays and it was kind of too many storylines, way 0:09:06.760 --> 0:09:09.959 too long, and I was like, you know, this one 0:09:10.240 --> 0:09:12.520 needs how I was like, I don't know, you know, 0:09:12.600 --> 0:09:15.520 I had cut this behemoth. You know, at towards the 0:09:15.559 --> 0:09:17.360 end they were all getting to be like forty minute 0:09:17.400 --> 0:09:19.720 long episodes and you're cutting a show out of the show. 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:23.640 But this one in particular, I felt like, I don't 0:09:23.679 --> 0:09:25.720 know what we're going to do. And he was just genius. 0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:28.640 Like there was one Kelly Poor story that just became 0:09:28.679 --> 0:09:30.280 like almost like two shots and it was just like 0:09:30.320 --> 0:09:33.439 a little pop and it was so good as a 0:09:33.440 --> 0:09:36.280 result of it, and he just moved stuff every which way. 0:09:36.400 --> 0:09:39.200 Once you see that your boss is doing that, it 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:41.240 kind of gives you a free er hand to do 0:09:41.280 --> 0:09:46.679 it yourself. Because I came on season five, so that's 0:09:46.840 --> 0:09:52.680 great point. So before you started you were editing documentaries. 0:09:53.000 --> 0:09:57.680 This was the very first scripted television show I ever edited, period, 0:09:58.040 --> 0:10:01.680 So I like literally went from no scripted to the 0:10:01.800 --> 0:10:05.360 number one company. It was just like, wow, try by 0:10:05.400 --> 0:10:09.000 fire first, one go for it. I knew that if 0:10:09.000 --> 0:10:11.040 I didn't do a good job, I wouldn't get as back. 0:10:11.320 --> 0:10:14.280 Like it was that simple. And Dave Rogers was amazing, 0:10:14.440 --> 0:10:17.120 and he always would watch my cuts, but initially, especially 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:18.920 to me, like this is what we do, stays, don't 0:10:18.920 --> 0:10:21.439 cut away, don't pre lab stay on the joke till 0:10:21.480 --> 0:10:24.080 the end, you know, Like that was just something it 0:10:24.120 --> 0:10:27.079 would take kind of just like a more seasoned person 0:10:27.120 --> 0:10:29.600 to know. But then in other ways, I think because 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:32.840 of my background, I was very comfortable with all of 0:10:32.880 --> 0:10:35.480 the shooting style, whereas I think other editors that would 0:10:35.480 --> 0:10:40.080 come on would be like WHOA, what the heck? Um? 0:10:40.160 --> 0:10:42.920 I remember my job interview with Jence Alatta, Mike Sure, 0:10:43.040 --> 0:10:46.200 Paul Everersen, and Greg Daniel. So not an intimidating group 0:10:46.240 --> 0:10:49.320 at all to be interviewing me. I literally like almost 0:10:49.400 --> 0:10:53.040 knew too little to be intimidated, Like I should have 0:10:53.080 --> 0:10:57.360 been shaking that ground like, but I almost was. Just 0:10:57.400 --> 0:11:00.320 like I knew Paul socially from an Inner of Twine niece. 0:11:00.400 --> 0:11:02.920 I knew him when he was writing. Clarisa explains it 0:11:03.000 --> 0:11:08.480 all personally. So what happened was a good friend of mine, 0:11:08.480 --> 0:11:13.640 Grady Cooper, who ended up editing quipond Um. He said, Hey, Claire, 0:11:13.679 --> 0:11:15.400 I heard there's a spinoff of the Office. Would you 0:11:15.440 --> 0:11:17.240 mind putting my name in the hat and giving it 0:11:17.280 --> 0:11:19.760 to Paul? And I called Paul and said, hey, my 0:11:19.760 --> 0:11:21.240 friend wants to put his name in the hat for 0:11:21.280 --> 0:11:22.800 the new show. And he's like, well, what about you? 0:11:23.280 --> 0:11:25.520 I was like what And he's like, what about you 0:11:25.559 --> 0:11:26.800 don't want to put your name in the hat? You're 0:11:26.800 --> 0:11:29.960 an editor too, And I said, okay, I never It 0:11:30.040 --> 0:11:32.440 just didn't even cross my mind that I would even 0:11:32.480 --> 0:11:35.880 have a chance. So Paul was conspicuously quiet in that 0:11:35.920 --> 0:11:38.800 meaning because I knew him, you know, socially and I 0:11:38.960 --> 0:11:43.040 met Greg and Suzanne at Paul's birthday party one year. 0:11:43.040 --> 0:11:45.680 I think, um, and to me, they were like the 0:11:45.720 --> 0:11:49.120 grown ups, which is so funny. They were like the pomps. 0:11:49.160 --> 0:11:51.480 They had a kid already like I was in my twenties, 0:11:51.480 --> 0:11:54.120 and they were just so mature. They were so mature, 0:11:54.520 --> 0:11:57.400 and I remember thinking like, oh, that's the dad when 0:11:57.400 --> 0:12:00.679 I went into the interview, like that, he's you the dad. 0:12:01.320 --> 0:12:04.280 And so I met with them. I said, I don't 0:12:04.280 --> 0:12:07.600 have any narrative editing background. I don't have I'm not 0:12:08.200 --> 0:12:11.400 this isn't my forte and I come from documentary. In fact, 0:12:11.440 --> 0:12:13.640 I've worked with a lot of your camera operators because 0:12:13.679 --> 0:12:15.840 we were all under the same roof at Mark Burnett Productions. 0:12:16.640 --> 0:12:19.960 And um, Greg's like, that's a plus that you've never 0:12:19.960 --> 0:12:23.160 done narrative. And I do come from documentary. I don't 0:12:23.160 --> 0:12:25.760 really come as much from reality. I've done tons of 0:12:25.880 --> 0:12:30.720 docs before, and weirdly docs on comedians. UM. I gravitated 0:12:30.760 --> 0:12:33.680 towards like Carol Burnett, a woman of character, Carry Grant, 0:12:33.679 --> 0:12:36.480 a class apart, Bob new Harden Button and it didn't. 0:12:36.679 --> 0:12:38.920 I didn't set out with comedy in mind when I 0:12:38.920 --> 0:12:40.679 was I just kind of veered that way, like just 0:12:40.720 --> 0:12:42.880 like I don't know, it just kind of followed my 0:12:42.920 --> 0:12:45.200 lap that way. So Greg was very keen on the 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:47.920 fact that I hadn't come up through the system, and 0:12:47.960 --> 0:12:51.080 I can see now in retrospect why that wasn't attractive quality, 0:12:51.160 --> 0:12:55.160 just and that you do thwart the script structure, which 0:12:55.240 --> 0:12:59.160 is like the script is Bible, and no other show 0:12:59.240 --> 0:13:01.439 runner lets who do that? Like can you imagine being 0:13:01.440 --> 0:13:04.480 on another show saying, oh, I put that three even 0:13:04.520 --> 0:13:07.880 though you wrote it in act one. But Greg two 0:13:07.920 --> 0:13:11.400 was also very reverential to the script on set. You know, 0:13:11.480 --> 0:13:15.240 if a director didn't shoot the words, he was pissed. 0:13:15.760 --> 0:13:20.320 But all fund runs improv is great, but you better 0:13:20.320 --> 0:13:23.199 have gotten at least one or two takes with the scripted. 0:13:23.640 --> 0:13:25.880 And then in post he didn't care, like and post 0:13:25.920 --> 0:13:27.400 he's like, let me see it the way it was written, Okay, 0:13:27.440 --> 0:13:29.520 now let's throw everything up in the air and start 0:13:29.559 --> 0:13:33.240 over again, which was so liberating, and I think that's 0:13:33.280 --> 0:13:37.400 also what led to just a whole level of another 0:13:37.520 --> 0:13:41.160 layer of comedy that other shows didn't have that opportunity for, Like, 0:13:41.200 --> 0:13:42.599 you couldn't have done what we did with the b 0:13:42.800 --> 0:13:46.840 roll and the talking I mean, you could take a 0:13:46.880 --> 0:13:49.160 show that was way too long, if it was too 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:51.520 much exposition, you just had someone do a talking head 0:13:51.559 --> 0:13:54.600 and then you could delve right into the scene. Mid 0:13:54.640 --> 0:13:56.640 scene you could just get rid of so much of 0:13:56.640 --> 0:13:59.960 the shoe leather. So it was just such an unusual 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:04.959 will show that way. I think obviously that mockumentary style 0:14:05.760 --> 0:14:08.439 worked because it worked for Parks and rec and Modern 0:14:08.480 --> 0:14:10.839 Family quite well. You know, other shows really were able 0:14:10.880 --> 0:14:15.280 to take that on and move forward with it. Yes, 0:14:15.559 --> 0:14:17.880 I mean, I don't know that I would say better 0:14:18.200 --> 0:14:20.400 than The Office, but I would just say it was 0:14:20.520 --> 0:14:25.000 clearly a format that worked in comedy, and other comedy 0:14:25.120 --> 0:14:28.960 stemmed from that, right. I think that for me, what's 0:14:29.080 --> 0:14:34.240 interesting is that we had rules in terms of how 0:14:34.280 --> 0:14:37.200 the camera worked, things that we were not allowed to break. 0:14:37.320 --> 0:14:40.800 Randall's talked about like, no, I'm not going to do 0:14:40.840 --> 0:14:44.560 a shot if I can't physically get it. If we 0:14:44.640 --> 0:14:48.680 have two cameras and one camera shooting from right behind Steve, 0:14:48.800 --> 0:14:51.080 then we can't shoot Steve front on or we would 0:14:51.120 --> 0:14:54.440 see the camera. And he talked about one of Greg's 0:14:54.520 --> 0:14:57.640 sort of adages early on was everything that makes it 0:14:57.720 --> 0:15:00.200 harder makes it better, you know, if the ang goal 0:15:00.360 --> 0:15:04.040 wasn't perfect and you didn't have everybody's face. I think 0:15:04.080 --> 0:15:07.800 that led led to the voyeurism and the realness of it. 0:15:08.040 --> 0:15:12.280 And I think the show's after the Office that emulated. Yeah, no, 0:15:12.320 --> 0:15:15.360 Parkinson MC didn't quite do it the same, which is fine. No, No, 0:15:15.440 --> 0:15:18.400 they didn't do it. And I think Modern Family they 0:15:18.440 --> 0:15:20.840 did a monitored family. I directed when and I remember 0:15:20.880 --> 0:15:26.080 going in and you know, it's essentially construct that very 0:15:26.120 --> 0:15:29.000 heavily borrowed some you know, from the Office. I think 0:15:29.040 --> 0:15:31.920 they would all be very comfortable saying that. And I 0:15:31.960 --> 0:15:34.120 remember being like, well, let's get an over of cam 0:15:34.200 --> 0:15:37.040 doing this, and that we don't do overs. It's basically 0:15:37.040 --> 0:15:39.760 a percinium. It's a multi cam just with no audience, 0:15:39.840 --> 0:15:42.840 and that you have two cameras only just shooting a semicircle. 0:15:43.240 --> 0:15:45.760 It's just it was a very different way of shooting, 0:15:45.880 --> 0:15:49.120 very perm like being on stage. But they also don't 0:15:49.160 --> 0:15:52.600 acknowledge that the cameras there except in the talking yeah, yeah, 0:15:52.640 --> 0:15:55.920 and the talking heads. I feel like Phil Dumpy sometimes 0:15:55.960 --> 0:15:58.800 just stars in the camera, but not like Guilty. I 0:15:58.840 --> 0:16:00.560 feel like he's done that a couple of times. But 0:16:00.920 --> 0:16:04.360 I'm no expert on modern family I did one, but 0:16:04.480 --> 0:16:07.880 I do think that well, I think there were so 0:16:07.880 --> 0:16:10.520 many special things about the office that are unlike other 0:16:10.560 --> 0:16:12.320 ones that have used that, you know, I think there 0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:14.680 was a willingness to be ugly. I think that's why 0:16:14.720 --> 0:16:17.600 the camera operators and the dps never got acknowledged, and 0:16:17.640 --> 0:16:20.960 nobody was going out of their way to be not 0:16:21.160 --> 0:16:24.840 under fluorescent lights. I mean, it was not a pretty set, 0:16:25.360 --> 0:16:27.320 and if it was, it would have been weird. So 0:16:27.360 --> 0:16:32.160 do you think they didn't get appreciated because I feel 0:16:32.200 --> 0:16:35.040 like so. I worked with director of photographies all the time, 0:16:35.520 --> 0:16:38.880 and you always want them on your side. Yet at 0:16:38.880 --> 0:16:42.480 the same time it's a constant battle with comedy. When 0:16:42.520 --> 0:16:46.080 I come onto a project, my goals, my objectives are 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:48.960 almost diametrically opposed to what the dp's job is. The 0:16:49.080 --> 0:16:51.920 dp's job, especially if there's a woman in the scene, 0:16:52.160 --> 0:16:56.040 is to make her beautiful. Nothing else matters. Nothing. Whereas 0:16:56.040 --> 0:16:58.240 when you said you had Randle in here and you 0:16:58.280 --> 0:17:02.560 were talking about soon, they understood and accepted the world 0:17:02.640 --> 0:17:07.120 of the office and the goal was comedy, Whereas I 0:17:07.160 --> 0:17:10.160 find myself having to say, I need this scene cross covered. 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:13.720 I've got two comedy giants. Fill in the blank. On 0:17:13.880 --> 0:17:16.359 the office, it was everybody was a comedy giant. So 0:17:16.400 --> 0:17:19.439 I have two comedyans and I need I can't anticipate 0:17:19.440 --> 0:17:22.560 what they're gonna do and say, like I need that coverage. 0:17:22.640 --> 0:17:24.879 What if one does something and there's an electricity in 0:17:24.920 --> 0:17:27.040 the take and you cannot recreate that, I don't care. 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:29.560 When cutting the Mindy Project pilot, it was Ed and 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:32.000 Mindy in a scene and they did all this beautiful 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:35.560 studio style, but Ed and Mindy were griffing and doing 0:17:36.040 --> 0:17:39.639 great fun runs and I was screwed. You know, I 0:17:39.720 --> 0:17:43.680 was screwed. So I'm always pushing, especially when there's such 0:17:43.760 --> 0:17:46.560 strong comedy people to cross cover, and a DP will 0:17:46.560 --> 0:17:51.439 always fight. A typical DP that doesn't buy into the 0:17:51.520 --> 0:17:54.200 comedy and the joy of what it is to shoot 0:17:54.240 --> 0:17:57.040 comedy will always fight. But she's got to look beautiful, 0:17:57.119 --> 0:17:59.320 she's got to be lit this way, and it's always 0:17:59.320 --> 0:18:01.480 she for the most part. It's like, I don't know 0:18:01.520 --> 0:18:05.120 where it's taught in cinematography school, but all women must 0:18:05.160 --> 0:18:08.879 be beautiful always at all times, like it's evil. Like 0:18:08.960 --> 0:18:11.520 Carol Burnette never adhered to that, and she was the 0:18:11.640 --> 0:18:15.440 number one person on television throughout the seventies, like think 0:18:15.440 --> 0:18:19.800 about Unice Unite was hideous, and she was the first 0:18:19.840 --> 0:18:22.520 to make fun of her aesthetics. And yet she could 0:18:22.560 --> 0:18:24.680 come out every evening and do her Q and A 0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:27.359 and be gorgeous in a job Bob mackiegown, you know, 0:18:27.440 --> 0:18:29.800 so like you knew she could bring it if she 0:18:29.880 --> 0:18:32.600 wanted to be beautiful. But where's the fun and that 0:18:33.200 --> 0:18:37.200 I don't know. It's a struggle, it's and it's truly 0:18:37.240 --> 0:18:40.520 a conversation I have to have every time, you know. So, 0:18:40.640 --> 0:18:43.240 I just you caught me on a terror on something 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:45.359 that I feel very passionately about. And I think coming 0:18:45.440 --> 0:18:48.280 up through the office where it was a given, Oh 0:18:48.400 --> 0:18:51.199 this doesn't look like right, who cares? They're hilarious, Like 0:18:51.359 --> 0:18:55.000 I don't care. You know, well, that's something that I think, 0:18:57.000 --> 0:19:00.840 well quite obviously the face of tele in a way 0:19:00.880 --> 0:19:04.400 began to change with our show. Yeah, And I also 0:19:04.480 --> 0:19:08.200 think the egalitarian nature of the office was something wonderful 0:19:08.200 --> 0:19:11.640 and desperately needed. And I think what was so wonderful 0:19:11.640 --> 0:19:17.000 as how all the characters just very slyly and almost 0:19:17.080 --> 0:19:19.920 it just seemed like so organically like it just seemed 0:19:20.040 --> 0:19:22.440 that you sort of just started to fall in love 0:19:22.640 --> 0:19:25.960 with the regular guy and the regular girl, you know, 0:19:26.119 --> 0:19:28.320 so like and on the office, the regular guy of 0:19:28.359 --> 0:19:31.600 the regular girl could be Stanley and it could be Oscar. 0:19:32.119 --> 0:19:34.359 And I think this was a time when you weren't 0:19:34.359 --> 0:19:37.199 seeing that much diversity in primetime television, especially in comedy. 0:19:37.240 --> 0:19:40.359 But see, it's interesting what you're saying right now. It 0:19:40.520 --> 0:19:43.600 never felt intentional. No, that's what I'm saying. I think 0:19:43.640 --> 0:19:47.480 it was like, well, I said slightly, but I don't 0:19:47.480 --> 0:19:51.880 know that it was Greg or your intentions, the writer's 0:19:51.880 --> 0:19:54.760 intention to be like, let's make America love the everyman. 0:19:55.320 --> 0:19:57.480 This wasn't like Willie Lohman time. You know, I don't 0:19:57.520 --> 0:20:00.399 think that that was their agenda. I do know, And 0:20:00.440 --> 0:20:03.320 I'm sure Gregg's talked about the differences between season one 0:20:03.359 --> 0:20:05.480 and season two and the Mandate, because I think that 0:20:05.600 --> 0:20:09.080 was huge, you know, humanizing Michael in a way that 0:20:09.119 --> 0:20:11.840 you needed to from season one. And I think even 0:20:11.880 --> 0:20:16.360 though the Mandate was specifically directed at Michael, this humanitarianism 0:20:16.520 --> 0:20:19.440 kind of slipped down to all of the character. Yes, 0:20:21.920 --> 0:20:24.200 when yours with Holly of course is a famous one, 0:20:24.320 --> 0:20:28.280 but like even someone who arch as Angela once in 0:20:28.280 --> 0:20:31.080 a while, just seeing that glimpse of vulnerability and you 0:20:31.119 --> 0:20:34.080 show me vulnerability. I'm on board with that character for life. 0:20:34.359 --> 0:20:36.840 And I think the opposite that with every single person 0:20:36.880 --> 0:20:39.440 practically on the show. Like I remember, I remember when 0:20:39.440 --> 0:20:42.480 Ellie came on. She came on just a little after me, 0:20:43.040 --> 0:20:44.479 and so we were kind of like the new girls, 0:20:44.840 --> 0:20:47.720 and I didn't know how you guys introduced new characters. 0:20:47.880 --> 0:20:50.920 I didn't know, like the writers just let them flounder 0:20:51.680 --> 0:20:54.520 and they waited for the actor to show them who 0:20:54.560 --> 0:20:57.439 they were. And it either worked her didn't. Obviously with 0:20:57.480 --> 0:21:01.600 Ellie Kemper it worked. But I remember getting Secretary's Day 0:21:01.680 --> 0:21:03.879 and she had a scene where Michael took her like 0:21:03.960 --> 0:21:06.359 Michael was very resistant but was told you gotta take 0:21:06.359 --> 0:21:08.680 your secretary out to lunch hot Secretary's Day, it's the rule. 0:21:08.920 --> 0:21:12.640 And then she has a meltdown and I remember thinking like, oh, 0:21:12.880 --> 0:21:15.040 she's going to make it because I didn't know, like 0:21:15.160 --> 0:21:17.200 I didn't hadn't seen much of her work before that. 0:21:18.080 --> 0:21:20.320 She was given like, hi, I'm aren. You know. It 0:21:20.400 --> 0:21:23.119 was a great scene and she was definitely driving it, 0:21:23.440 --> 0:21:26.000 and he was the reactor to everything that she was doing, 0:21:26.040 --> 0:21:28.520 and she gave him great stuff to work with, and 0:21:28.560 --> 0:21:32.000 in this I was like, she's got the chops. She 0:21:32.080 --> 0:21:33.679 can play with Michael. I mean, she can play with 0:21:33.680 --> 0:21:36.960 Steve Carrell, so she's gonna make it. So I think 0:21:37.040 --> 0:21:39.200 that it was a very intimidate. I remember when Kathy 0:21:39.240 --> 0:21:41.639 Bates came on, she was I hope this is okay 0:21:41.640 --> 0:21:44.640 to say, but like we were cutting her first few 0:21:44.680 --> 0:21:48.959 takes and her voice was a little warbily. She was 0:21:49.040 --> 0:21:51.920 so nervous and she told told you guys like and 0:21:52.400 --> 0:21:54.480 everyone was like, you're a freaking Oscar winner. How are 0:21:54.480 --> 0:21:56.199 you nervous to come play with us? You know this 0:21:56.280 --> 0:21:58.800 is a low, this is a nice She's like, you 0:21:58.840 --> 0:22:01.240 don't get it. You don't get it. And I think 0:22:01.320 --> 0:22:03.240 I feel like even I don't know that any of 0:22:03.400 --> 0:22:06.440 us got it. Because it was popular and I knew 0:22:06.480 --> 0:22:08.440 it was good. I knew it made me feel something 0:22:08.440 --> 0:22:12.120 in my heart. But just this whole like kids watching 0:22:12.119 --> 0:22:14.359 it now, and I mean, it can only imagine what 0:22:14.440 --> 0:22:16.760 it's like to be in your shoes, like not being 0:22:16.800 --> 0:22:18.440 able to watch down the street. I don't even more 0:22:18.480 --> 0:22:22.680 so than when it was on the air. Weird. It 0:22:22.760 --> 0:22:27.040 is weird, yeah, And I think by the way. Of course, 0:22:27.080 --> 0:22:29.480 it's she's Cathy. It's it wore off. You know, she's 0:22:29.520 --> 0:22:32.800 not the one. Did you see on TV? The episodes 0:22:32.840 --> 0:22:35.480 don't have that, But I just remember being bowled over 0:22:35.600 --> 0:22:38.359 by that and how it seems so easy from the 0:22:38.359 --> 0:22:41.919 inside and then coming in from the outside, Well, how 0:22:42.000 --> 0:22:43.480 was it for you when you came in? I mean, 0:22:43.680 --> 0:22:48.600 you know, I can speak to this. There were two hires. 0:22:49.000 --> 0:22:51.919 You probably don't know this, but season five they hired 0:22:51.960 --> 0:22:55.639